The origin of the role of content strategists is the separation of content and publications that became crucial through digitization (see e.g. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2987592.2987631). That doesn’t mean that strategy cannot be developed bottom-up, but strategy must not be confused with tactics.
I don’t know how the term ‘content design’ became associated with tactical work. In what other context does the inclusion of the word ‘design’ imply less emphasis on strategy?
Yes!!!
I did not want to imply that. There is strategic design, of course. But design can also take place on a purely tactical layer, content strategy by definition not.